( Chapter Two )
Cadmus, Creation

Going on an investigation with friends sounded a lot like the plot to a horror story, one where the dumb teenagers run into a psycho killer or monster created in a science lab — and given the fact they were at Cadmus, a lab, it sent wild signals through Cerise's nervous system. Her hands were sweating and she could have sworn she felt her heart drop to the bottom of her stomach. While she wanted to believe this was going to be an easy in and out job, she knew nothing ever went as planned when she worked with these boys.

  They were bound to run into trouble at some point in the night.

  Standing outside the facility, the ragtag team of sidekicks watched the firefighters do their job — or more like failing as two of the doctors were thrown outside the window when an explosion went off. Luckily, Kid Flash had caught them before they could make contact with the ground. The young archer watched as he placed them on the roof before falling himself, hanging from the window he just saved the civilians from.

  "So smooth," Robin laughed from where he stood between Aqualad and Bullseye.

  "Does he always have to run ahead?" The eldest of the group asked. "We need a plan." He turned to Robin only to see he disappeared with a maniacal cackle.

  Robin was already halfway across the parking-lot jumping on top of the firetruck to then use his grappling hook to swing over to Kid, helping him through the window.

  Cerise glanced over at Aqualad with an apologetic smile before running off as well. She agreed with the Atlantean that they needed a plan but there wasn't much they could do right then. Climbing up the side of the firetruck she copied Robin's previous actions and climbed through the window where Robin was typing on the computer and Kid Flash went through the filing cabinet in the corner.

  A second later Aqualad joined them looking irritated as he said, "appreciate the help."

  "You handled it." Robin shrugged, "besides we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember."

  "This place is giving me a chill, it's odd." Cerise huffed while rubbing at her arms.

  Robin spared her a glance as his fingers continued to dance over the keys. "In and out," he reminded her though it did little to disperse the feeling.

  Aqualad ignored them and made his way out into the hall, stopping when he heard a beep from the elevator. He turned to the side where a shadow figure was standing right before the doors closed. That same chill running down his spine. "There was something in the..." he trailed off once he felt Kid Flash step up beside him.

  "Elevators should be locked down," Kid mumbled with furrowed brows.

  Robin ran towards the elevator while Cerise trailed after Aqualad who had followed in a walk. "This is wrong," the Boy Wonder said as he pulled up the digital computer from his high-tech gloves that definitely cost Batman millions. "Thought so. This is a high-speed express elevator," he told them. "It doesn't belong in a two-story building."

  "Wish my house had one of these," Cerise muttered.

  Aqualad frowned while slightly nudging Cerise's arm as she tried looking over Robin's shoulder at his computer. She was too close for the boy to work, her own hands reaching towards the screen to see if it would go through. "Neither does what I saw."

  Aqualad pried the elevator doors open with his hands, a grunt of exertion falling from his lips. He looked down with a puff of air, seeing just how far of a drop it would be. Robin leaned under his outstretched arms to take a gander for himself and whistled lowly, "and that's why they need an express elevator."

  Robin shot his grappling gun up at the ceiling and used it to lower himself down a few of the levels. Aqualad, Kid, and Cerise followed not far behind. Swinging from wires was like second nature to the archer, she spent most of her time behind a mask than outside of one. Dinah often told her it was a defense mechanism developed to act as a bandaid over her past actions, trying to hide them away with good deeds. That stung but it wasn't exactly a lie.

  Stopping at level twenty-six, the team stood on the thin panels as Robin tried hacking into the security system. Aqualad helped Kid after he slipped while Cerise stood behind Robin, leaning over slightly to watch as he got into the mainframe. "Bypassing security. There, go."

  Aqualad opened the doors before the four walked into the hall. There was a red light throughout the room that reminded Cerise of the lightbulb Ollie put in Roy's overhead light when he complained about the other ones being too bright for his eyes. It was eerily quiet as the teens stood there dumbfounded.

  "Welcome to Project Cadmus." Robin muttered.

  With her nose scrunched and mouth twisted into a disgusted frown, Cerise said, "this looks like the beginning of a thriller movie. If a mad scientist starts chasing us I'm using Kid as a shield." The boy gaped at her with a look of offense as he pulled down his goggles.

  "If we were in a thriller I'd use you as a projectile." Kid Flash mimicked her sour expression before running off, ignoring Aqualad rushing out words of scolding, telling him to wait. The speedster wasn't the type to think before he acted, his feet working faster than his brain in most instances which almost always gets him in some sort of trouble.

  He ran down the hall to the right of where the team had been standing, unsure of where he was going. Maybe he'd be able to find a room with files to go through on their projects, if he hadn't slipped and skidded to a halt on his back when a stampede of large creatures came trampling his way. They look almost like elephants in size and build but their faces were twisted into that of a monster, something definitely not of the ordinary.

  One went to step on him but he rolled out of the way, allowing the herd to travel down the hall. After they passed, Kid Flash walked back over to his team who had rounded the corner. The roaring and growls reminded Cerise of a lion but it was distorted in a way that made it sound like it was being strangled.

  "No, nothing odd going on here." Aqualad said sarcastically as the long of the creatures stomped away with a smaller gnome-like being on its shoulder with glowing horns.

  "Like a damn movie," Cerise shuddered.

  The four made their way to one of the locked doors that Robin easily opened with a cocky grin. Inside were walls upon walls of test tubes holding more gnome-like creatures, causing the teens to let out surprised gasps. "Okay, I'm officially whelmed," Robin sighed as they walked inside.

  There in the middle of the room was a long pole with a ball of electricity that was powered by the gnomes, though they looked more like beetles now that Cerise was closer. Her hand came up to touch the tube in curiosity but Robin pulled her hand away at the last second with a shake of his head. Cerise huffed out a breath but didn't reach for it again.

  "This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world." Kid Flash announced, catching onto what was going on in the lab. "The real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power with these..." He trailed off with a gulp.

  "Man I hate beetles," Cerise pulled a face. "But Cadmus is smart for using them to generate their own electricity to hide themselves from the outside world. Saves them from paying a PG&E bill."

  "Cherry, stop admiring their work," Robin pinched the bridge of his nose, using the nickname he had given her years ago. It started out as something stupid, a way to push the girl's buttons since she insisted on calling him Ducky instead of his actual name — claiming it was a bad word. Cherry came from the meaning of Ceries, a French name that quite literally means Cherry, though sometimes he goes as far as to call her Cherie.

  "Even the name is a clue," Aqualad muttered with his hands hanging limply at his sides. "The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the Earth."

  Cerise asked curiously, "Is that Greek or Roman?"

  "Greek," Kid Flash answered while tapping his finger against the test tube in front of him.

  Robin looked around the room with his brows furrowed and the corners of his lips downward. "This Cadmus creates new life too," he gestured to the beetles emitting electricity. He walked over to the computer in the middle of the room, working his magic of technology, "let's find out why." The boy connected his own digital computer to the one in front of him, typing on the holographic screen as he said, "they call them Genomorphs. Whoa, look at the stats on these things." He pointed to the screen where a giant Genomorph appeared with its abilities in print off to the side.

  Cerise watched him go to the next slide where different categories of Genomorphs resided. "Super strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons," Robin said.

  "They're engineering an army but for who?" Kid asked with a glum tone, unlike his usual upbeatness.

  "Wait," Robin pointed to the screen where he began reading through the long paragraphs that Cerise couldn't bother to even attempt reading. "There's something else, Project Kr. The file's triple-encrypted," he groaned. "I can't —"

  "Don't move!" A deep and unfriendly voice barked from behind the teens.

  They turned to see a decent number of Genomorphs running through the door with Guardian close behind. His eyes went wide in shock at their appearance, just as much as they were of his. "Robin, Bullseye, Aqualad, Kid Flash?" His tone said it all.

  "At least he got your name right." Robin chuckled from where he stood behind Kid.

  Aqualad's face took on a look of thinly veiled betrayal as he said, "I know you. Guardian, a hero."

  "I do my best."

  "Then what are you doing here?" Kid Flash narrowed his eyes.

  "I'm the chief of security, you're trespassing." Guardian rested his hands on his hips while looking at the group disapprovingly. "But we can call the Justice League, figure this out."

  Cerise clenched her fists at her sides at that. Like hell they were going to call the 'almighty do-gooders' to take them back home. They just weaseled their way into a case that not even the League had figured out. She refused to leave till they knew everything about Cadmus, and that included Project Kr. Digging deeper is what Roy would have done had he been with them.

  "You think the League's gonna approve of you breeding weapons?" Kid asked with a hint of anger in his voice as it raised.

  "Weapons?" Guardian questioned, confused, "what are you —" he frowned as the horns of the Gnome resting on his shoulder glowed red. "What have I —" he clenched his head with his eyes closed before they opened with a hazy look in them, clouding his crystal blues. "Take them down hard. No mercy."

  Cerise nocked an arrow in her bow as the Genomorphs charged at them with deep growls. Would killing them count as taking a human life? She doubted it but they were a living thing so she saved the sharp arrowheads and used one of her trick arrows instead, shooting it at a Genomorph that was getting too close, encasing it in a net.

  Robin threw down a smoke-bomb to hide them and shot his grappling gun towards a support beam to swing him over the crowd and towards the door to make his escape. Not looking back to see if any of his team was following his actions.

  Cerise waved the smoke away from her face and kicked her foot into the chest of a Genomorph before jumping over another, using its head as a pivoting point and ran out the door with Kid and Aqualad not far behind her after engaging in their own fights.

  With an alarm blaring they caught up with Robin who was trying to hack into the security system to get into the elevator door. Cerise hit his shoulder harshly, "thanks for ditching us." He turned to look at her over his shoulder in a quick glance with the corners of his mouth twitching into a half-smile, "of course" he ignored her sarcasm.

  "Way to be a team player, Rob." Kid Flash huffed as he sped into his personal space, nearly out of breath from fighting the Genomorphs three versus one.

  "Weren't you right behind me?" He knew they weren't.

  The elevator allowed them access after a second and the teens piled in, barely missing the angry creatures and supposed hero, Guardian. Cerise leaned against the metal wall with a deep sigh leaving her mouth as the levels of floor dropped. She knew they were going to run into trouble from the second they stepped onto the grounds of Cadmus, it was no surprise, but this really was starting to feel like a movie she wanted to skip to the end of.

  "We're headed down?" Aqualad glanced at Robin in confusion the same time Kid said, "dude, out it up."

  Cerise didn't know where they were going but she did know Robin was a curious boy at heart, always needing to solve every mystery thrown his way. He wanted to know what Project Kr was just as much as she did, only he was actually taking the initiative to find out. "Excuse me? Project Kr," Robin said as if it were obvious what they were doing. "It's down on sub-level 52."

  Aqualad scratched at the back of his head with a deep sigh. He looked between the three younger teens as his hand hovered over the emblem on his belt but hadn't been able to touch it to call the League before Cerise slapped his hand away. "This is out of control." He told them. "Perhaps we should contact the League."

  "Not happening till we know what Kr is." Cerise leveled the Atlantean with a determined glare, though it was nearly impossible to make out with the sunglasses hiding her eyes.

  The doors opened with a ding, revealing a hall that was completely red. It looked goopy and like chewed gum, the smell however was that of bleach. There were eggs attached to the walls that no doubt housed more Genomorphs, causing the girl to scowl at them in distaste. She ran out of the elevator, not bothering to look back to see if anyone was following, though she did hear the familiar pattern of Robin's footsteps.

  She stopped at a crossing between two separate halls, unsure where to go while Robin crouched behind a barrel of waste.

  "Which way?" Aqualad asked once he and Kid Flash joined them, though he sounded irritated at least he hadn't left them on their own.

  "Bizarre looking hallway one or bizarre looking hallway two?" Robin pointed to each one.

  "Halt," a Genomorph that stood on its only two legs ordered. He was dressed entirely in white and looked like he was the most human of the creatures created down there. Which wasn't saying much but it was something Cerise thought was worthy of noting. His horns glowed red as he telepathically threw a barrel at the group of teens but they dodged it with practiced ease.

  Robin threw a bird-a-rang at it but the Genomorph stopped it without lifting a single finger, throwing it to the side. The team shared synchronized nods before running down one of the halls, dodging each object thrown at them in the process.

  Cerise watched Kid Flash run further ahead as they rounded a corner. A room with a door slowly closing was in front of them and from the look on Kid's face it was exactly where they needed to be. The speedster grabbed one of the pipes and lodged it between the door to keep it from closing, giving the remaining sidekicks time to run through.

  As the Genomorphs ran at them Aqualad kicked the pipe out to force the door closed. Locking them in the room of Project Kr and away from immediate danger. Or so they thought. Already on the computer, Robin disabled the door to keep others from coming in and them from leaving. "We're safe," he told them.

  "We're trapped," Aqualad corrected with deadpan expression.

  Cerise walked around the room, circling a pod stationed in the middle like a center-piece at a dinner table. They weren't common in the Queen house but Dinah did usually have a bowl of fruit in the middle, apples and oranges, easy access. Though she and Roy avoided that bowl like the plague in favor of whatever greasy food they could get their hands on.

  She wasn't the only one to take interest in the pod. Standing at a control panel, Kid cleared his throat to get their attention, his eyes not once leaving the center-piece. "Uh guys, you'll wanna see this." The speedster pressed down on a button to turn on the lights around them.

  There in the pod marked Kr was a boy who appeared no older than sixteen with his soft, resting features. Cerise thought he looked familiar, like she had seen his face before but on another. Her brows furrowed, mentally going through the faces in her life till she stepped back with a frown. "Does anyone else think he looks like —"

  "Superman," Robin finished for her.

  Kid Flash walked up to the glass, his mouth hanging open from the shock. His finger traced the letters in front of him. "Big K, little R." The speedster read aloud with his eyebrows practically jumping to his hairline. "The atomic symbol for Krypton. A clone?"

  A clone wouldn't be the most shocking thing to see, especially not when Cerise was staring at a younger version of Superman's face. The superhero didn't have a son, not one he knowingly contributed to anyway. The three turned to Robin for answers as he had already been hacking into the database containing all information on the boy in the pod. "Weapon designated Superboy," Robin read aloud. "A clone force-grown in...sixteen weeks? From DNA acquired from Superman."

  "Stolen from Superman," Aqualad clarified as if that part was not obvious.

  Kid Flash shook his head while resting his arm on Cerise's shoulder. "No way the big guy knows about this."

  "Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation twenty-four-seven." Robin's eyes narrowed at the information but the archer perked up a little. Her back straightened and the corners of her mouth were twitching into a half-hearted smile. "So he's super charged, constantly getting stronger...I read the files the last time I was in the Batcave." She admitted.

  Kid jabbed her side with a pout, "you got to go to the cave? Not fair!"

  "If it makes you feel any better, Batman totally was not okay with it."

  Aqualad pointed to the smaller genomorphs that were above Superboy. They were the same ones that had been on Guardian's shoulder. Cerise thought they were adorable in a weird-freaky-looking way. If she wasn't convinced they were going to take away the freewill of whoever they were touching, she would have definitely wanted one as a pet. "And these creatures?"

  "Genomorph Gnomes," Robin stated. "Telepathic, force-feeding him an education."

  Cerise smirked to herself while elbowing Kid who was still using her as an armrest. "You could use one of those." The boy turned to her with a mocked laugh before shoving her away and into Robin who looked amused by the two.

  "We can guess what else they're feeding him," Kid huffed. "They're making a slave out of...well, Superman's son."

  "Now we contact the League," Aqualad demanded with an authoritative tone.

  Cerise tried calling Green Arrow through the communicator in her ear but was coming up with nothing. She tried a couple more times till she was left with a deep desire to rip the thing out and stomp on it. Cerise shook her head at her friend with a frown of annoyance. "Arrow is gonna so ground me...well, even longer than usual."

  "No signal," Robin sighed.

  Kid stared down at the ground as he said, "We're in too deep...literally."

  Cerise was used to getting in over her head, it was something that happened way too often. She'd need more fingers to count down her mishaps but she always made it out with barely any injuries and fun stories to tell when with the other sidekicks. This time, however, felt like she was in for a rude awakening. Her parents were going to bring down the hammer, ground her for life — after checking for wounds and making sure she was breathing properly. Maybe she should fake a heart attack to get out of getting yelled at.

  She better make it convincing if she wants Dinah fooled. The last time she tried to fake being sick to get out of school she couldn't even trick her with the fake vomit she and Roy cooked up. Really it was oatmeal and chicken broth but the woman gave them a lecture on how she knew every trick in the book. Cerise doubted it but the point is, Dinah was difficult.

  "This is wrong," Kid said as he glanced back at the pod.

  "We can't leave him like this," Robin agreed with the redhead.

  Cerise had been trapped in a closet once. Roy thought it would be funny to leave his sister who was afraid of the dark alone in one of the many tight spaces within the walls of the manor. She had just recently turned ten and wanted to prove she was not the cry baby he so affectionately called her. Roy had been fourteen at the time and felt he needed a break from her following him around. Of course he had been grounded by Oliver — after consulting his friend on what to do with misbehaving children. But ever since then Cerise refuses to be in a small room without an open door or even a window to climb out of.

  Roy would never admit it, but he was definitely the one to give her claustrophobia. She did not want to be in Superboy's place.

  "Set him free," Aqualad nodded. "Do it."

  Robin pulled up his holographic computer and pressed on the hovering keys while Cerise tapped her foot impatiently. "So, what if Superboy is in a pod because he's super dangerous?" She asked but only got dirty looks from the others. Holding her hands up in surrender she sighed, "I mean we're about to wake him up and any time I would wake Speedy from a nap he'd gut-punch me. What if Supey does the same but breaks us in half instead?"

  "Then we fight," Kid shrugged.

  "Oh you're gonna fight him, tough guy?" Cerise raised a brow, "dude, he could break you with his pinky."

  "Okay that's not true and you know it."

  "You're right, one little sneeze will do it, lightweight."

  "Lightweight?!" Kid frowned in offense. "I've been working out!"

  "Really? Couldn't tell, like at all."

  "Guys," Aqualad cleared his throat to get their attention. The two turned to him with dramatic scowls of irritation, Cerise quickly wiped it off her face the second she noticed Kid Flash making the same expression as her. "He's waking up."

The four watched as the clone clenched his fist in a tight grip that had Cerise lifting a hand behind her back for an arrow. The horns of the gnomes glowed red as the boy's eyes flew open, wider than the window Cerise once tried jumping out of. At a speed that could rival speedsters, Superboy charged at Aqualad, causing them to tumble to the ground.

He was on top of the Atlantean throwing punch after punch at his face as the boy beneath him grunted in pain. Unable to block the assault with Superboy's knee keeping one of his arms pinned to the floor. Kid Flash and Robin ran over to the two in a rush, Kid grabbing one arm while Robin tried tugging him off with the other.

Cerise, however, had a different plan. She knocked an arrow into her bow and aimed at the boy's head. With one arm pulled back and the string between two fingers she narrowed her eyes on the target. Bullseye never missed. Releasing the arrow, she waited for Superboy to drop dead — something she hadn't even thought about doing in the past three years. But the boy ripped his limbs away from Kid Flash and Robin to catch the arrow before it could hit him.

"C'mon man, you just ruined my winning streak." Cerise complained while lining up another arrow, "my Dad is gonna be so disappointed." She shook her head with a tsk leaving her mouth in disapproval.

Kid tried running at the clone as he neared the archer but the boy in yellow and red was thrown into a glass container holding test tubes. They shattered beneath the force while Kid Flash laid on the ground, the only indicator of him being mildly okay being the rise and fall of his chest.

Robin jumped on his back with one of his gas bombs in hand, shoving it in his face. "I don't wanna do this," he said as he activated it. A cloud surrounded the two though Aqualad made his way through to slam his fist into Superboy's face, causing him to fly across the room.

Cerise pulled back the string of her bow, ready to take another shot at the clone but Robin shoved her arm down with a look of genuine anger, it was all in his scowl. "We don't kill, Bullseye." A lump formed in the back of her throat as she tried to look away from his scrutinizing gaze.

Robin had given her glares and scowls before. She wasn't unfamiliar with his attitude or even anger. But the fact he needed to remind her of the one rule that had been set, showed she wasn't past what had been beaten into her. She was a killer first and foremost. Robin knew of her background, hell, she was almost positive the whole League knew. But the boy was the one who she'd call throughout the night when the nightmares got bad, when the thoughts would resurface.

She had not changed.

Cerise glanced down at the sharp arrowhead — not one of her trick arrows. "Force of habit?" She smiled awkwardly but the Boy Wonder shook his head in disbelief and focused back on the half-Kyrptonian.

Robin shot his taser-gun at Superboy but it did not work out how he planned. The boy with an S on his chest grabbed the cords and used them to pull Robin over to him, swinging him around before throwing him on the ground. Superboy pressed his weight down on the smaller boy's chest, making it a struggle to breathe.

Cerise grabbed one of the throwing knives from her belt, grabbed the tip and made it fly through the air. She watched it cut the clone's skin. Just enough to hurt him. Superboy furrowed his brows as his fingers came to his cheek to touch the blood. He looked at her in anger but there was also a glint of...remorse?

Aqualad didn't waste another second before using his water-bearers to form a mallet and swung it at Superboy, throwing him into the pod he had recently been released from. "That's enough!" He yelled while Cerise ran to help Robin up, one hand rubbing his back and another holding onto his arm.

With her focus on the injured Robin, she hadn't noticed the angry clone coming up behind her. Aqualad tried yelling out as a warning but the boy was already wrapped a hand around her neck in a tight grip. Not enough to kill her, but with enough pressure to knock her unconscious.

Cerise was really regretting not walking out with Speedy.




















NOTE!

I told myself I couldn't go to sleep till I finished this chapter, finally. It took me a bit but it's done. Also Roy and Cerise are constantly messing with each other like the chaotic siblings they are but they also look out for each other.

Also who hasn't been locked in a dark scary closet by their older siblings before? That's a normal Wednesday for me, or was as a kid. I also don't like spiders because my brother used to tell me he put daddy-long-legs in my hair when I was seven🧍‍♀️older brothers are shitheads but you gotta love 'em.

Anyway, I actually have motivation for this fic so I'm gonna try updating it when I can.